The invention described herein relates to projectiles for guns and more particularly relates to projectiles for small rifled firearms. Our projectile is intended for use at short range, where the target is at a distance of one hundred feet or less.
Our projectile is comprised of a relatively light, soft body partly covered by a relatively hard, dense jacket. The jacket defines a belt-like array of apertures on the cylindrical outer surface of the jacket and the body has peripheral zones that fit through the apertures far enough to be flush with the jacket's outer surface. The peripheral zones lock the body to the jacket and lubricate the interface between the projectile and a gun barrel in which the projectile travels. The apertures weaken the jacket along their belt-like array to allow the body to erupt radially outward through the jacket when the projectile hits a target.
An optional core within the body increases the body's radially outward dispersal when the projectile impacts a target. The core is disposed along a longitudinal axis of the projectile and is made of stronger material than the body. The core has a flat head in a forward region of the body and has a shank aft of the head, and there is a fluid filled chamber directly aft of the shank. When the body flattens upon the projectile's impact with a target, the head forces the flow of body material outward from the axis. Also upon impact, the shaft is driven into the fluid filled chamber and the fluid exerts radially outward force on the body to assist dispersal of the body.